December 19, 1977 Table Of Contents

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SI Staff

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Booktalk

PETE HAMILL'S SECOND STREET-WISE NOVEL ENHANCES CLICHÉ WITH SKILL

By Jonathan Yardley

The NFL

A MATTER OF HIGHER MATH

With only one weekend remaining in the NFL's regular season, it would take an MIT Ph. D. to compute all of the potential playoff matchups

By Dan Jenkins

TROUBLE? CALL THE BOMB SQUAD

In 1977 B.C. (Before Cunningham), the 76ers couldn't hold a lead against the Trail Blazers and had dropped five in a row to them. Last week they sent in an emergency unit that totally defused Portland

By John Papanek

The Bowls

SETTING UP A SHOWDOWN IN DALLAS

Somehow the bowl selections turned out fine—dandy, in fact—despite PSP and the poker politics that forced a few hands

By John Underwood

Sportsman Of The Year

WHEN ALL THE WORLD IS YOUNG

Among the sports celebrities of 1977 were schoolboys and girls, a ninth-grader who was the toast of Forest Hills, an 8-year-old who made Frank Shorter blink, a playground star who led grown men a merry dance. Their wondrous skills delighted all who watched, and brought refreshment and a certain joy to big-time athletics. But of all the prodigies, none burst on the scene so remarkably or garnered as much glory as Steve Cauthen, 17, who just 12 months ago was a bug boy at a bush track and now is Sportsman of the Year.

By Frank Deford

SPEAKING OF YOUTH WHAT A YEAR!

Fort Zack

A CHRISTMAS GIFT FOR FORT ZACK

Pro basketball superstar 'Double T' Townsend injures his hand on Santa Claus Night. Thereafter, in this fictional tale of a holiday miracle, he and his team are transformed

By Frank Deford